Mrs. Persoff- Take 1 Module E - A Different Kind of Communication

YOUR NAME :Your group color: A Different Kind of Communication Like most kids on the tiny island of Gomera, 11-year-old Maria Garcia has her own cell phone. But another form of communication — one that doesn't require batteries — is just as common among the children of the mountainous island. It is known as El Silbo, the Gomera whistle. El Silbo is actually a simple kind of language. By shaping a finger like the letter U and putting it in one side of the mouth, the islanders* are able to produce a set of six whistle* sounds. Using those sounds to form words and sentences, they can communicate with people as far as 2.5 km away.*islanders- אנשים שגרים באי*whistle - שריקהUntil the end of the 1950s there were few* roads in Gomera, and even fewer telephones. "As kids we learned El Silbo in the streets," says 58-year-old Pedro Darias. "If you didn't want to do a lot of climbing up and down to find people, you had to use it." But in the 1960s, as roads were built and phones became common household items*, the need for El Silbo rapidly declined.* few מעט*household items מוצרי ביתIn 1982, the local government decided to rescue the tradition* by teaching El Silbo in the schools. Within three years, most children on the island were using the language. "It takes a lot of practice," explains Darias, who is one of the teachers. "When you've only got six sounds, a lot of words seem almost the same. So you really need the context* of the whole message to tell you what you're hearing."*tradition*contextOnce the children of Gomera master* their unique language, they delight* in using it as a secret code, baffling* tourists with the rapid whistles. More importantly, in some situations El Silbo has the additional advantage of being the most convenient* mode of communication. "Suppose I'm at a friend's house," says Maria Garcia, "and I want my grandfather to pick me up on his way home from work in the fields. I can just stand in the doorway and whistle my message to him." Now that's something you can't do anywhere else in the world.*master- לשלוט*delight- לשמוח*baffling- לבלבל*convenient - נוח(Adapted from "A Whistle a Day Keeps Globalization Away," Time, July 26, 2004) 1. What do we learn about "most kids on the tiny island of Gomera" (line 1)? Give TWO facts according to the first paragraph? 2. What do we learn from the first paragraph about El Silbo?PUT A ✔BY THE TWO CORRECT ANSWERS. How it got its name. How the sounds are produced Why it is rarely used. When it was invented. What it is used for. How it arrived in Gomera. 3. Between the 1960s and the present, changes occurred in Gomera concerning El Silbo.List the changes in the order in which they occurred by completing the sentences below.Base your answers on the 2nd paragraph: (1) In the 1950s, the islanders used El Silbo.(2) Later, roads were built and phones became common household items.(3) As a result, El Silbo was used less.(4) Then, (in 1982) the local government decided to teach El Silbo in the schools. .(5) As a result, most children on the island started to use it language Silbo. 4. What does Darias explain in paragraph 3? How he became a teacher of El Silbo. What makes El Silbo hard to understand. Why El Silbo is necessary today. Where you can learn El Silbo. 5. What is the subject of paragraph 4?COMPLETE THE ANSWER. The uses/ advantages of El Silbo.